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Not that long ago, electric-powered vehicles were little more than rolling science experiments. Everybody had one, but no one seemed to be serious about them. Not anymore. With gas prices spiraling ever upward and governments around the globe pressing automakers for more efficient lineups, seemingly every car company on the planet is breaking their legs jumping on the EV bandwagon.

Nissan is the first major automaker to deliver the juice in the form of the Nissan Leaf, a mass-market, all-electric vehicle you’ll be able to buy from your local Nissan dealer soon. (The first 2011 Leafs hit customer garages just before the close of 2010.) It’s a quirky little hatch, but Nissan essentially delivered what it promised, and we’ve found the Leaf to be a surprisingly normal driving experience, range anxiety aside. It will soon have company. Other major automakers will be trickling EVs onto the market this year — namely the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and smart fortwo Electric Drive — but it’s the soon-to-arrive 2013 Focus Electric hatchback that will no doubt serve as the Leaf’s first true foil.

Since we won’t be able to drive the Focus Electric until closer to its late-2011 on-sale date, we’ve decided see how the two cars stack up on paper. Let the opening round of the Kilowatt Wars begin.

POWER
The Leaf is powered by an 80-kilowatt AC electric motor capable of producing 107 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque, routed to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission. During a test drive, we saw an indicated top speed of 95 mph — 5 mph faster than Nissan claimed — and an approximate zero-to-60 mph time of 10 seconds. The Focus Electric gets its motivation from a 100-kilowatt AC electric motor that produces 123 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. Ford reports a top speed of 84 mph and has not announced a zero-to-60 time yet, though we expect it will be in the same ballpark.

Advantage: Nissan. What it lacks in horsepower, the Leaf makes up in torque and top speed.

BATTERY/CHARGE TIME
The Leaf gets its power from a 192-cell, 24 kilowatt-hour laminated lithium-ion battery that requires no special thermal management system. The Focus Electric employs a 23 kW-hr lithium-ion battery regulated by a liquid heating and cooling system. Both vehicles require up to 20 hours to charge from a standard household 120-volt outlet, but the Leaf requires eight hours to charge from a 240-volt outlet while the Focus Electric needs just four hours at the same voltage. The Leaf will have an optional 440-volt quick charge port, but no such public charging stations exist yet.

Advantage: Ford. The holy grail of EVs is a charging time as short as filling a gas tank. Ford’s looks like it will be closer.

WEIGHT
While the Nissan Leaf is a purpose-built vehicle, the Focus Electric is an adaptation of the upcoming 2012 Ford Focus hatchback. Despite being slightly larger than the Focus in length, height, and wheelbase, the Leaf weighs in at about 3400 pounds. The wider Focus, which carries a liquid heating and cooling system for its batteries, is about 300 pounds heavier.

Advantage: Nissan. Weight is the enemy of range and the Focus Electric is a portly compact.

HANDLING
Both being front wheel-drive, it’s no surprise that each vehicle employs a simple MacPherson strut front suspension design. Handling characteristics will likely be decided by three factors. First, the rear suspension. Nissan employs a simple torsion beam rear while Ford sticks with the Focus’ proven “Control Blade” multi-link setup found on many European-spec Fords. Second, the tires. Nissan uses Bridgestone Ecopia all-season tires size 205/55 on 16-inch wheels that carry an “H” speed rating of 130 mph. Ford opts for Michelin’s Energy Saver all-seasons sized 225/50 on 17-inch wheels with a “V” speed rating of 149 mph. As for weight and weight balance, the Leaf is lighter and carries its batteries under the seats and rear footwell. The heavier Focus carries its batteries higher beneath the rear seats and up behind the rear seat backs.

Advantage: Ford. It’s a narrow margin, but we expect a better suspension and tires over the center of gravity, although we’ll have to drive it to know for sure.

RANGE
Possibly the most important metric of an electric vehicle next to charge time is how far it will go before the battery dies. EPA testing suggests a range of 70 to 100 miles for the Leaf. Our lead-footed test drive returned a real-world range of 73 miles. Ford has not released a range estimate, though the company initially targeted the same 100-mile range based off the same research as Nissan showing that 90 percent of Americans drive less than 100 miles per day.

Advantage: N/A. Until Ford talks, we can only guess, but a higher curb weight, more powerful motor, and fewer obvious aerodynamic tricks could hurt it.

PRICE
The Nissan Leaf starts at $32,780 before the $7500 Federal income tax credit, which brings its price down to $25,280. Credits and incentives are available in several states that can bring the price under $21,000. Ford hasn’t released a price for the Focus Electric, so a direct comparison isn’t possible. We expect it will fall somewhere in the mid-$30,000 range, between the Leaf and the $41,000 Chevrolet Volt. Ford has the advantage of amortizing development costs with the rest of the Focus line, but the Focus Electric also has more equipment and features than the Leaf. The Leaf will also enjoy the advantage of roughly a full-year head start, as Focus Electric deliveries won’t begin until late 2011, according to the automaker. Ford will have a lot of catching up to do, which could affect the pricing strategy. Nissan is also offering an attractive lease rate to entice customers.

Advantage: Nissan. Even if Ford can get the price down, the Leaf will have established itself in the market long before the Focus gets out of the gate.

GADGETS
“Range anxiety,” a phrase coined by rival and “Extended-Range Electric Vehicle” purveyor General Motors, refers to consumer concerns about running out of battery power before reaching an outlet, and requiring hours rather than minutes to fill up. To combat this worry, both Ford and Nissan have developed a number of gadgets to aid the driver in addition to the eco-driving coaching programs found on most hybrids. Nissan has incorporated an overlay into the vehicle’s standard navigation system that shows your current range on the map, based on your battery charge. The system also shows all the nearest charging points and can map a route from charging station to charging station. The system can also display current energy usage and efficiency for vehicle systems as well as the motor, and can schedule charging times and “pre-conditioning,” activating the climate control system before you get in the car. Finally, Nissan offers a mobile app for your smartphone that can show vehicle system data, battery level, and charge time, and can remotely control charging and pre-conditioning.

Ford offers many of the same features, but takes them a step further. Rather than digital gauges like the Leaf, Ford uses a pair of 4.2-inch full-color LCD screens flanking the analog speedometer that display charge, range, driver coaching, and other vehicle information. In the center stack, Ford employs an 8-inch touch screen (to Nissan’s 7-inch unit) featuring the company’s lauded Sync infotainment system. Like the Leaf, the Focus Electric’s navigation system has been augmented for electric driving. Drivers are encouraged to use it for every trip, as the nav can then determine the most economical route, charging stations along the way, and the amount of “surplus” energy that will be left in the battery at the end of the trip, allowing drivers to choose their driving style based on available and required energy. Ford’s system can also schedule charge and pre-conditioning times. Ford’s mobile app, though, offers more features, including a GPS locator to find the car in parking lots; the ability to start, lock and unlock the car remotely; the ability to set charge and pre-conditioning times; the ability to monitor vehicle systems and battery charge; and a MapQuest-powered trip planner that can send a route you’ve designed on your phone to the car.

Advantage: Ford. More tricks in the car and on your phone mean a more convenient ownership experience.

SPACE
As noted earlier, the Focus Electric and Leaf are within inches of each other in every dimension. Unfortunately, Nissan doesn’t list the Leaf’s interior dimensions in its official specifications, and there’s no gas-powered model to compare it to. The Focus Electric, meanwhile, does reveal its interior dimensions, but with nothing to compare them to, we can only make educated guesses. As the Focus is nearly three inches wider than the Leaf, it stands to reason it will likely offer more shoulder and hip room. Both vehicles suffer from somewhat tight back seats, as the Ford keeps some of its batteries behind the rear seats while the Nissan keeps its charger there. This affects rear-seat legroom, especially in the Ford, which gives up 10 inches of space to gas-powered models. The Leaf is an unknown. In addition to legroom, this issue especially impacts cargo space. The Leaf has a deep cargo floor and a tall, narrow cargo area behind the seats. It also offers folding rear seats, which only fold down to the level of the charger, creating a two-tiered cargo space for fitting more stuff. Gas-powered Fords have flat-load floors, which aren’t as deep as the Leaf’s, but that could change on the Electric model. Presumably, the seats will fold as well, creating a two-tiered cargo area thanks to the intrusion from the battery pack.

Advantage: N/A. A lack of specifications for the Leaf and hands-on experience with the Focus Electric makes this comparison impossible right now.

LOOKS
Aesthetics are, of course, entirely subjective. Nissan has allowed form to follow function, crafting the Leaf’s futuristic and somewhat odd exterior for maximum aerodynamic efficiency. Ford, meanwhile, has only made a few modifications to the Focus’ exterior in creating the Focus Electric, and to our eyes, it’s the better-looking car. Inside, Nissan’s futuristic theme continues, where Ford’s is much more traditional, replacing only the standard analog gauges with dual LCD screens.

Advantage: Ford. We just like the way it looks better.

At the end of our informal comparison, it’s the Ford Focus Electric with a narrow 4-3 win over the Nissan Leaf. With two categories undetermined, though, Nissan could still come out ahead. We’ll have to wait until we can get more information on the Focus Electric and actually drive it before we’ll have a better idea. And of course, a full-fledged comparison is all but inevitable. Stay plugged in, because this is only the beginning of the EV revolution.

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